VRABEC FAMILY BLOG: Beggar's Night

Trick or Treating was a completely different experience for us this year than any other year in the past. First of all, in Ohio they do not necessarily celebrate Halloween. Oh sure, they celebrate and decorate with all of the expected Halloween traditions including trick-or-treating, but they celebrate Beggar's Night here. They designate a specific night (this year it was 30 Oct.) and time for trick-or-treating. On Sunday the 31st most people had already begun to take down their decorations. It was just a regular ol' Sunday here in Ohio! It was sort of weird, but nice at the same time! On top of the Ohio tradition of Beggar's Night, things were different in our neighborhood as well. People went all out with their Halloween decorations, putting them out in late September. There was one house in our neighborhood that had every inch of lawn covered with Halloween decorations, we deemed it the "spooky house" and per Olivia's request we had to drive by it every time we entered or left our neighborhood. Trick-or-treating was a new experience in our neighborhood too, it was CRAZY with trick-or-treaters!! People drive into our neighborhood to let their kids trick or treat here. Walking around with all of the ghosts, goblins, witches, and princesses reminded my of the Halloween scene from E.T. It's really how Halloween should be! At one house they had even set up a grill and were giving out hot dogs, brats, juice and hot apple cider along with the candy. People buy bags and bags of candy and run out of candy. A fire truck drives around the neighborhood handing out full-size candy bars to the kids. It was unreal!!! The weather was perfect, not too cold just a little bit of a chill in the air and it was nice and sunny when we started. The girls anxiously awaited the designated time of 6 PM and then they were off. Grammy Susan and Great-Grammy Lo were in town, so Susan joined Andrew, me and the girls while Grammy Lo volunteered to stay at home and hand out candy. It worked out perfectly for all of us. The girls had a blast and Abby met up with some of her friends from the neighborhood and they ran from house to house, checking out costumes, decorations and getting loads and loads of candy. Olivia was always about 1 or 2 houses behind Abby and her friends but she didn't seem to care because she was having so much fun! When all was said and done we ended up with loads of candy and 2 tuckered out little trick or treaters that talked about Halloween and trick or treating for days. They are already talking about next year and planning their costumes!!

Our Halloween jack-o-lantern pizza dinner.

Dorothy and Toto all dressed up and ready to go.

On a side note I ordered Olivia's costume online after Abigail insisted she be Toto. I was rather disappointed with costume, it just doesn't really look like a dog. But, after I put Olivia in it, she just looks so stinking cute I couldn't help but liking the costume. We fielded lots of questions about what she was, and many people guessed werewolf or bear but all agreed she was a cutie.